2 Corinthians 13:5
2 Corinthians 13:55Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Can’t you see for yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you—unless you actually fail the test?
"Keep testing whether you are in the faith; keep proving what you yourselves are. Or do you not recognise that Jesus Christ is in union with you? Unless you are disapproved" is read by JWs as a perpetual works-assessment. Are you keeping up with field service? Meeting attendance? Loyalty to the organisation? The "disapproved" clause is heard as a live threat — fail to endure faithfully and your standing with Jehovah is revoked.
Paul's Greek word for "disapproved" is adokimos, and he uses it in two places in the Corinthian letters — and . In the test is explicit: "do you not recognise that Jesus Christ is in you — unless indeed you fail the test?" The test is evidential — does Christ live in you? — not punitive. Paul is not threatening loss of salvation; he is asking believers to examine whether the faith they profess is real faith or counterfeit faith.
The difference between evidential self-examination and anxious insecurity is enormous. Paul the same letter-writer elsewhere says "there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus" (), that nothing can separate us from the love of God (), that "he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion" (). Paul holds both at once: rigorous self-examination AND unshakeable assurance. The self-examination is the way God's preservation works out in practice — not a treadmill that could at any moment revoke the verdict Christ has already earned.